Travelog for: Tilla Mook

When I came here all the animals of the house gave a party. We have much fun !!!

Then we ate and drink Ouzo and Tsikoudia, both are traditional drinks. We also taste "meze",  this is a dish full of small portions of different foods as sausages, tomatoes, peppers, some types of cheese, meatballs, etc 

Here a photo of mine on my Host's Christmas tree... I liked to stay there!
Ah I also jumped on Santa's head! Hmmm can you guess how is their Santa? Ah yes! He is a Michael Jackson doll, dressed as Santa!!!!

My host is an artist, a painter. Here I'm in frond of one of her ships.

Here I'm eating fresh grass! The garden has had much grass! Here I'm in Dharma's summer house, near the sea.

In the summer house I met many many new friends! First of all a horse, a very old horse, they said me it was more than 100 years old! It was on the fireplace.... ok ok it wasn't working (remember the temperature is still 20C here, they don't need it!)
Then I met a rabbit family, Clair, Joe and the Robbie the rooster (he was so selfish!)
During noon my host introduced me to Dino a wooden dinosaur!!! and then during coffee time I met some more friends the cats Nelly, Gabi and Helen, the elephant Jesus and Nick...
Then all the animals of the house go for a walk and Dharma has taken a photo when we returned.

Yesterday Jumpie the pink bear, left the house to visit USA we have a small party. We, the three ToyVoyagers, drunk some Ouzo and eating some meze! Have a nice trip Jumpie!
I have learnt  a Greek greeting "stin igia sas" it means just "cheers"!!!

Hi
After a great silence period Im here to tell you my adventures in Greece. You will see me in a fashion show. I walked with the models... he he he are you jealous of me! you bed I was the king of the night!!! Then you can see a photo of me at Syntagma square the most famous square of Athens during night. We went there and then we visited a restaurant to eat souvlaki which is a traditional dish!!!!
The next day I helped Dharma to cool taramokeftedes which is a traditional dish like meatballs but without meat. Instead of meat she used fish eggs. Woow they were extra tasteful... You can see me on the dish with them!
Then we went at the sea for swimming Ah sea is wonderful... clean and transparent and so blue!
I always maybe everyday I helped Dharma in cooking you can see how much Ive learnt to do in a kitchen!
You can see me also in frond of Acropolis (day and night) and at the Athens Cathedral square!!!
Also in frond of the Winds tower!
And at the end in frond of Dharmas office (pink house)

I arrived home today safely from my wonderful visit to Dharma in Greece.  It was so much fun, and she filled my bag with candy so I wouldn't get hungry on the way home!    I saved a few for mom.  I think I'll stay home for a little while, and then go travelling again.  Thanks Dharma!!

I've arrived in Finland! I brought some bookcrossing stuff for my host too, and she was thrilled (thank you!) I'm now in a smallish town at the south coast of Finland, only 1h drive east from the capitol Helsinki. My host promised to take me out soon!

It's a lovely sunny weather with +20C!

My host lives by the Baltic Sea. There's a lot of archipelago on the coastline so they don't have an open seaview at this spot. The creator of Moomins (Tove Jansson) used to spend her summers on a small island nearby! No wonder Moominpappa loves the sea 

I went to the local sightseeing tower with my host.  I got a relly good view over the city of Porvoo! Porvoo is the 2nd oldest city in Finland. It has almost 50 000 inhabitants of which 33% is native Swedish speakers (finnswedes). Porvoo is only 50km east from Helsinki, the capitol of Finland. It takes less than an hour to drive there.

The story tells that the sightseeing tower was made by a giant: he heard that they were building a church in Porvoo and got angry (apparently giants don't like churches) and threw a stone all the way from Sipoo (where he lived, a place not too far from Porvoo). He didn't either aim it too well or his arm wasn't in good enough condition as he missed the church.

The stone has been a place to gather for festives a hundred years ago. Kids were told that babies were picked up from under the stone. Around 1880 they made the stairs and it became a sightseeing tower. Nowadays kids are told that a stork brings the babies - which is weird because you very rarely see storks in Finland...

After the tower we walked to the old town part of Porvoo. There are many many small shops that sell all kinds of quality stuff, mostly handmade. My host's favorite shop is a toy shop called Riimikko. It sells good toys made of wood or tin or such - basically anything but plastic. This store has a Moomin house on its window all year round - they just change the decoration by the season.

The red shorehouses are the most wellknown attraction in Porvoo. The brochure tells this about them: The shore houses are now red, but they got their colour only in the late 18th century. Red ochre paint was used to paint the shore houses in honour of King Gustav III's arrival from Sweden. All of the houses along his route were painted, in order to make them more beautiful. The red ochre also helped protect the logs from wind and sun damage. Exotic fruits, wines and spices were brought to Porvoo, and the shore houses also served as intermediate storehouses for coffee an tobacco. Today the shore houses are used as private living quarters and storage space.

While in Old Town we took a peek in the Cathedral. It was built in the 15th century and managed to survive thru the years witout getting totally demolished. Last incident was in the early 21st century when the roof was burnt down (arson). Even now there are postcards with a picture of the roofless church! The red church is called "Little church" was built in 1740 and has seats for 170 people when the Cathedral has seats for 750 people.

We continued our galloping to the riverside. the riverside is a popular place for people to gather for a drink in the summer. Today there was Porvoo Days in Porvoo and also the riverside was occuoied by a market. We watched the handicrafts, boats, fire trucks etc. And finally decided to go for a lunch. There were vegetarians in the company so we chose a small nepalese restaurant Khukuri. It was really delicious!

My host and her youngest kid headed for Tampere, to visit a reletive and some friends in Jyväskylä. They stopped for a brief moment in Hämeenlinna, a city about 1,5h drive from Porvoo.

We only saw the Häme Castle but it was plenty!

This is what the National Board of Antiquities says about it: Häme Castle is one of Finland's medieval royal castles. It is believed to have been built at the end of the 13th century, following the crusade by Swedish Earl Birger to Häme region.

During the Middle Ages the original fortified camp was built into a residential castle for its commandant. In the 18th century a third storey was built and curtain wall buildings partly replaced the original outer walls. The castle and its surroundings were in prison use from 1837 to 1972. The main castle is now presented as a historical monument.

The Häme Castle and its redbrick barracks are on the shore of Lake Vanajavesi. The promontary has been a meeting place for centuries, and the walls almost echo the voices from the Middle Ages.

It was awesome!